Come Home Leo
by Moonsetta
Summary: A young turtle tot Leo hasn’t come home. His brothers are worrying their shells off but why won’t Splinter do anything? Cute little story!


Ok, it's the weekend. What do expect me to do?

I don't own TMNT.

* * *

"It isn't fair!" a young six year old Mikey cried, "Leo was supposed to be here to listen to my story!"

Raph took a deep breath as he continued his pacing, he wasn't sure how long his older brother had been gone but it was **way **too long for Leo, "Where are ya bro?" he whispered while gazing at the door.

Unlike Mikey he just cried out in his thoughts, "It's not fair, Leo and I were supposed to go explore that abandoned tunnel we found and sneak off to our secret clubhouse so the others wouldn't bother us to play with them."

Donny found himself doing the same puzzle over and over again. The house was just static-like without Leo, whenever the purple banded turtle said anything to the others they would get confused. He tried discussing some things he had learned about the above world or how he had successfully gotten another broken heating system working. Since it had been broken though the controls would be a little tricky for the others. Donny knew Raph would just get angry and break it, Mikey would break it probably without trying and their sensei wouldn't be able to make any sense of it. Leo, was his only hope but the blue banded turtle had been gone for 20 hours!

That was just ridiculous! Especially for Leo!

"He's still only seven," Donny thought as he overheard Raph begging their sensei for them to go find their older brother.

"Leonardo will be fine my sons," Splinter said, glancing at the clock that read 3:00am, "It is time you all went to bed."

Grudgingly the young turtles each went to their rooms, 10 minutes later they were all back in the living room. Raph couldn't sleep, he was too used to listening to each of his brothers as they readied for bed. Hearing the squeak of only two sets of springs he was upset because he was reminded that Leo was still gone. The red banded turtle was the first to jump out of his bed and stalk into the dark living room. Mikey followed behind him, he was scared of nightmares without all of his older brothers there. Leo was usually the first and sometimes only one to comfort him during nightmares.

Yeah, sometimes Raph and Donny just got annoyed by him but Leo just came to him whenever he cried out. All his brothers approached the nightmares in different ways. Raph was, aggressive about it always demanding to know what had scared the youngest turtle while he was still crying. Donny made a long explanation that he needed to know the cause of the nightmare to extinguish it. Mikey wanted to tell them that he just needed to cry some things out but he never could. He preferred when Leo comforted him after a nightmare because Leo would just listen and hug him close. Then when Mikey was calmed down a bit Leo would say he wouldn't let anything hurt his baby brother.

Donny sighed, he was so bored. Well, he was worried yes but he had seen Leo. The purple banded genius turtle tot had figured out all the angles, strengths, edge weaknesses and said it would be impossible to climb the 30 ft shaft near their home without one of them falling. He told his brothers not to but the next day they found both Mikey and Raph hanging from broken pipes about half way up. Leo jumped right into action while Donny ran home for Splinter.

When the rat and turtle returned Raph and Mikey were safely on the ground again and clinging to Leo. The blue banded turtle hand them over to their sensei when Mikey cried out that Raph had climbed the shaft to throw his comic book up there. Ignoring the warnings Leo climbed right up and quickly snagged the comic before climbing down and giving the comic back to Mikey.

Donny sighed and trudged into the living room with his immediate younger and older brother.

"Don't worry bros," Donny said, trying to be encouraging, "Leo will be fine and be back anytime now."

His brothers didn't say anything and just stared at the door. Mikey was normally the exuberant one and he kept imagining Leo coming in with a dramatic entrance, like swinging in or even flying. Well, why not? Leo always did the impossible, he could definitely find out a way to fly and he would fly in with this awesome costume with a cool cape and loads of presents!

Mikey smiled and let his imagination fly. Raph scowled and fidgeted with the remote to the TV. He wasn't going to turn it on he just needed something to do. Donny took out his puzzle again and counted out the 500 pieces although he knew there would be 489 pieces like always. It was an old puzzle he had found in a dumpster, abandoned after someone probably got bored of putting it together. They all sat together on the couch, Mikey on one end, drawing in a book full of blank paper that he had gotten for his last birthday, Raph in the middle, still fidgeting with the remote and Donny on the other end, sitting on the edge so he could work out the puzzle on the coffee table.

As the clock changed to 5:00am Raph yawned for the first time. He glanced down to see Mikey had fallen asleep, his head in Raph's lap and Donny had dozed off, laying his head on the red banded turtle's shoulder. Raph sighed and just kept watching the door. Where was Leo?

* * *

Leo sighed and dropped down from the tree in central park. He glanced around to ensure the coast was clear and then ducked into a bush. He pushed aside some leaves and found his little friend was sleeping. He reached out a hand and lightly stroked the shell.

"Poor little guy," he said as the small creature slept.

"I can't believe we were this small," he said quietly said.

Yes, it was a baby turtle. Leo had been on his way home, the quickest and most discrete way being the pipe in central park but he stopped when he heard humans deep in the underbrush. He jumped into the trees and stared down at a horrible scene. A group of teenage boys were picking up a baby turtle every time it tried to crawl away eventually it curled up inside its shell for protection. Those boys just took out a knife and tried to saw away the shell, unaware the spine made up the shell! Leo was about to jump out and try to help his fellow turtle but a voice rang out.

"Who's down there! Why you rotten kids!"

The boys scrambled away as an officer trotted down towards them. The group was long gone and the officer didn't bother one glance at the baby creature. Leo jumped down immediately and examined the crack. It didn't look too bad, it would heal and he would be fine but Leo couldn't bring himself to leave. What if that group came back or the officer returned and decided to just put the thing out of its misery? Leo shook his head and turned to the bag he was carrying. He took out a sheet he had found, tore it and bandaged the little guy. The last thing the baby turtle needed was his shell snapping open and tearing his spine in two. Leo then decided he wouldn't leave until the little one woke up and found a safe place to stay.

Leo glanced up as the sun began to rise.

"My family must be worried," he thought, but he couldn't just leave!

"It is alright my son," a voice said inside his head.

"Master Splinter?" he thought.

"It is alright my son. I know you are safe."

"Thank you sensei."

Leo let out a breath he wasn't aware he had been holding and turned to glance around him cautiously. Hearing approaching footsteps he covered his friend and jumped up into the trees again. Then, to his surprise the turtle had sometime become conscious and began crawling out from under the bed of leaves and bush he was hidden under. The footsteps grew closer and Leo could only watch and wait.

"Sissy, there's a turtle over here. He looks hurt."

Leo glanced down cautiously and saw a young girl, probably about five years old with her brown hair in pigtails staring down at the turtle as he tried to crawl away. The bushes parted and a teenage girl walked through the leaves. She saw the turtle and gasped.

"Oh your poor thing, what happened to your shell? Oh we better get you back to the others after a checkup with the vet."

"Did he do that?" the youngest girl asked, pointing at the makeshift bandage.

"I doubt it," the teen girl said, her short brown hair lightly waving in the wind, "Whoever did thought is a hero, his shell would've split by now. Let's take him to Doctor Elisa. She'll know how to help him, then we can release him among the others in the lake."

"Yay! Let's go!"

Leo released a sigh of relief and then followed them for a bit to see they had done just that. Now he could head home.

* * *

"My sons, you seem very troubled," Splinter said to his sons at breakfast.

"I want Leo to come home!" Mikey whined.

"Master Splinter please, Leo's been gone for too long," Raph pleaded, trying to see if they could go look for him now.

Donny shifted in his seat, "He has been gone for over 24 hours."

"He's been gone for a bajillion days! I want Leo to come home!" Mikey said, tears staining his eyes once again.

This just wasn't right in the children's minds. Their big brother had to come home, he had to! There was no exceptions he just had to come home! Big brother, Leo, always came home! He had just recently turned seven so had been given more free reign when it came to wondering the sewers. The boundaries set up by their father moved further out as they became older.

"Raphael," Splinter said to the red banded turtle, "Should you not be celebrating? You are turning seven today."

"No. What's the point of celebrating if Leo isn't here?" the red banded turtle tot said as he turned his attention to the entrance of the lair.

Quiet as a gentle breeze the door open and there, was their older brother.

"LEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the youngsters shouted and ran towards him.

Leo set down the bag he had been carrying and staggered as his younger siblings tackled him to the ground. Splinter shook his head and walked over to his sons, grabbing the bag up as he stared down at the boys he had adopted.

"Bros, I'm ok," Leo said.

"But what happened?" Donny asked with a tear stained face since Mikey was still sobbing and Raph wouldn't lift his head after burying it in Leo's shoulder.

"It's a long story, but don't worry I'm ok. Now come on, where's the party? It's your birthday after all Raph," Leo said glancing at his immediate younger brother.

Raph raised his head and smiled, "It's not a party without you bro."

"Aw, thanks Raphie," Leo said with a smile, "Oh, I got a present for each of you while I was gone."

"I knew it!" Mikey shouted and jumped to his feet while Raph and Donny helped Leo up.

Donny happily poured into his new and first chemistry set. Mikey stared wide eyed at the huge art case. After tearing off the paper covering he found it was all in a metal case with a lock and even better, it had his name on it! When he asked Leo about the name he found Leo had carved the youngest turtle's name right into the metal. By that time Raph was bouncing on the edge of his seat, anxious.

"First thing's first Raph," Leo said, taking out a small white box from the bag.

"My son?" Splinter asked.

"I left the money for it sensei," Leo said.

Splinter smiled and nodded for Leo to go ahead. The blue banded turtle set the box in front of Raph on the table and pulled lightly at the twine around it. Once removed Leo urged Raph to open the lid. Raph bit his lip and slowly grabbed the top.

"Come on!" Mikey shouted, "What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it? What is it?"

Even Donny turned away from the chemistry set to glance at the mysterious white box. Finally, the top fell back and Raph found a small strip of paper covering the object inside. He liked his lips and reached out for it. He threw it out of the way quickly and sucked in a breath.

"CAKE!" Mikey shouted and dove for it being stopped by Leo, "CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!!!"

"Hold your horses Mikey," Leo said, "That's Raph's cake, if you ask really nicely he' might give you a piece."

"Can I have a piece!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!? PLEASE!?"

Raph turned to Leo, "You got this for me?"

"Well, it was Master Splinter's money, I just went to pick it up," Leo said, still holding back a drooling Mikey.

Donny pulled Mikey back and tried to calm him down as Raph shot out of his seat and hugged his big brother, "Thank you Leo!"

"Hey, that's just the cake my present for you is outside."

Raph scrambled for the door and let out a shout of joy and the others followed to see Raph already riding a shiny red new bicycle.

"Raph, your helmet!" Leo shouted holding out a helmet just as shiny.

Raph's eyes sparkled and he whipped back to get it as Mikey and Donny started running after him, wanting to try the bike themselves.

"May I ask where you acquired all this my son?" Splinter said looking at his oldest quizzically.

"The chemistry set was being set out by a school teacher, she had one too many for her class," Leo explained, "The art set was being thrown out from a house, the family there moved away and left the art set with a bunch of other things I found that might be helpful and the bike I found inside the trunk of a car at the junk yard. It took some cleaning up but I did it and the paint was just laying around."

Splinter was quite surprised, so it wasn't just that injured baby turtle that caused his son to return so late. The rat shook his head with an amused smile and called out to his younger sons to come inside so they could eat breakfast.

"Can I have a piece of cake Raph, PLEASE!?" Mikey asked with a wide eyed look that everyone gave into.

"Me too! Please Raph!?" Donny said, trying to copy Mikey's stare.

"Alright, you two can have a piece," Raph said as he climbed off his bike and started pushing it into their home until it got stuck where you had to step up.

Leo stepped forward and took the other side of the bike, "Here, let me help you bro."

Together they lifted the bike and wheeled it inside, "Thanks Leo," Raph said and walked around the bike to hug him again, "You're the best big brother ever!"

"Happy birthday little brother," Leo said hugging back.

"Come guys it's time for cake!" Mikey shouted from the kitchen.

Raph smiled and pulled Leo along, promising silently that his older brother would get the biggest piece of cake.

* * *

The next day Leo was sitting on the couch, trying to read a thick book his sensei had given him when his three brothers practically pounced on him.

"Leo! I need your help with that new heater!" Donny yelled.

"We're supposed to go explore that abandoned tunnel bro!" Raph shouted.

"I wrote a new story, it's just for you big brother!" Mikey said in sweet sugary voice.

Raph and Donny narrowed their eyes, how dare Mikey use the term 'big brother' to get all of Leo's attention.

"Nii-san!" Donny whined, "I require your assistance in operating the reprimands of the thermal unit!"

Mikey and Raph glared at the purple banded turtle, how dare he use Japanese and complicated vocabulary to grab all of Leo's attention.

Raph pouted but he had one weapon in his arsenal his little brothers didn't, "You promised bro! You can ride my bike down there!"

Leo sighed and set the book aside. As he got up and started calculating the times he could fit all this in he glanced longingly back at the book.

"Guess I'll have to find out the ending later," the blue banded turtle thought as he settled down to hear Mikey's story and see his drawings, "I hope Ishmael made it."

* * *

I was bored. Oh, awhile ago I was in my probability and statistics class when my teacher used the four TMNT brothers in a mathematical equation. He kept putting markers together to make their weapons. He asked about them first, which turtle has the swords, the bo staff, the sais, the nunchucks?

I answered all of them.

Then he asked about mask colors, who wears blue, red, purple, orange?

I answered all of them.

I am apparently the only one in that class who knows anything about them! My fellow students just started saying their names randomly. When the teacher first asked about who used the swords the first answer from another student was, Michelangelo.

I feel so alone in the universe!!! :( T_T Y_Y ):

~Moonsetta


End file.
